ILCruzr

24 til I am on the Valor!!!! :) Yippeeeeee

I like sailing in Jan/Feb. Coming from the Arctic Circle known as Illinois, anywhere is better than here in Jan :).

The Victory cruise is a great ship and funner itineraries than a Bahamas cruise! I loved both of the times I was on the Victory. Aim for her :) and Happy planning!

Loving the review so far, Nicole! I enjoyed your Valor review and it got me excited for my Valor Cruise next month :). The Breeze is my next carnival ship :) Cant wait to read more, and I assuming you go to Curacao on this itinerary. That's my favorite port so far (Under Isla Roatan..and I am sure it will change after next month!)...so I cant wait to see pics :)

hope its on the valor next month :) Its my fave!

Almost 7 weeks for me til I fly to San Juan to sail the Victory!!! :) I cannot wait!!!

I used captain marvins last december. They were great for stingray city. I would def use them again!

56 days til our Valor Cruise from San Juan!!!!!! SO CANT WAITTTT

OP why don't you like the skylift in St. Thomas? We are going to be there in January when im on the Valor and we are going to do it. We heard great things about it.

great review! I am sailing on the EOS next August, I cant wait!!!

I love MKE airport, I have flown from there many times including my last winter cruise. I got a 240 rt fare from there. When we fly from O'Hare lately it seems much more expensive. Airfare is really making cruising hard these days!

I just booked the Enchantment tonight, so seeing this thread is kinda cool! It will be technically be my first royal cruise, because I had booked the Independence of the Seas for Jan 2106 a few months ago. But, this sale RCL is having is too hard to pass up, so I am squeezing in a Bday cruise on Enchantment! I am so excited because I haven't been to Nassau in years and I hear its really nice now, and excited for CocoCay. Also heard how awesome the renovations on this ship are. This will be such a fun cruise, let the countdown begin!

No pictures for today. We went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast because the hotel does not offer a continental service and the room service price were just a bit unreasonable once you added in the almost 20% taxes to it. They also offered free wifi, as did the hotel but it was slow.

 

Check out was 11 am and you could have extended it for $100 until 1pm, wish we had known before. Anyway at check out the concierge asked about our flight time and offered to hold our luggage at no charge until we were ready to depart and we could still use the pools and wifi. We chose to jut hang out in the cabanas

and lobby of the hotel

 

Once we were ready to go a cab was summoned and off to the airport we went. I will say that if you feel uncomfortable with your driver dont get into the cab. No we were robbed or anything but this woman clearly must have just gotten her license and had anger issues.

 

When traveling from Puerto Rico remember you have to pass through Agriculture before checking your bag. Are you ready for another man don't listen story? Well TSA instructed us to remove all items from our pockets and put it through the scanner. Why doesn't bf listen? he was escorted to a private screening room because of the cigarettes in his pocket kept setting off the machine.

 

We made it aboard the plane and home safely at midnight. Yay just in time to prep for work the next day. Wont make that mistake again, I'll be taking the day after travel off from work.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my review. If you have questions just comment and I'll answer.

Nice review! We are also staying at the La Concha before this cruise, how far was Dunkin Donuts to the hotel? I am excited to hear about a DD :)

Can you tell me if you can get sushi on the Victory?

 

Thanks!

I hear theres some on the lido. What I don't know? But I know they took away the carts. I miss that ;(

we did this on the Glory last June and it was COLD. The balcony was not cool for that cruise! lol.

OP, what glory cruise did you do??? I was on the glory last June too :)

That's a tough one for me! Ive been to all those ports minus HMC...and I know the sunshine is 2.0, but I don't like the 2.0 upgrades all that much. I went on the Glory twice last year and the Victory in December. I liked the old style Carnival and had a better sailing on the Victory than the Glory. I love Cozumel because it is such a fun place to go to. KW Is ok, just kinda cruddy they go in the morning and theres not much to do there. So my vote is the Victory!

So, after my last Carnival cruise a few weeks ago, I am ready for a change.

I am considering Royal.

I need advice from someone who has sailed both to help me out please!

Which ship would you recommend:

 

1. carnival is very lacking in entertainment. Im looking for a ship with activities going on at night on lido deck....

2. My husband loves the casino, so that is a must.

3. Not wanting a MASIVE ship... i have gone on the legend, fantasy and fascination. Need something a little bigger than those ships, but not huge.

4. My kids love basketball. Need a basketball court.

5. Please tell me about dining. We love Carnival's 24 hour free room service and 24 hr ice cream. How does this compare?

6. Can leave from Tampa or Port Canaveral

 

Any help would make me smile!!!!!

I am going on my first RCL cruise. I just am switching over from Carnival. And the one thing I have been learning about RCL is that ice cream isn't 24 hours and they don't serve lemonade or iced tea all day only at lunch. And they have lemon flavored water. Still I can't wait to sail IOS and compare the two lines :)

It was to an OS on the empress deck. We are on the lido in a regular balcony room.

Lol. My bad. That's standard I guess for OS. We took the grand suite offer.

OP what did you think of Josh Waitzman? hes the best CD carnival has!

Does anyone know who the cruise director will be on the Splendor August 12?

I think Malcolm Burns. He was our CD on the Miracle in 2011 and was really annoying. Least fave CD

We got offered 400 to move from a balcony on the upper deck on the victory to an ocean suite...weird they could only move you to another balcony...I hope you didn't take that!

We got an upsell call for our Victory cruise back in December. We took the deal but we did try to see if we can barter with them to get it cheaper, but no success. I will be shocked to hear if you got a cheaper rate that what was offered

OP it is always nice to try new cruise lines. We are loyal to Carnival because it really is "FUN" maybe my age or the little party kid in me at almost 40.

 

We have also sailed Royal and had a great time but it was not the "party feel" but then again Royal had its own appeal. We had always wanted to try Royal but back in 2006 & 2007, Royal did not have as "advanced" kids camp in taking little ones which we needed and Carnival was up to the challenge, that has changed since then.

 

My kids love waterslides but i really like the Florider... lol I have two little ones that cannot ride the Florider because of height restrictions but after our Carnival Dream cruise this summer, next year we hope to go on Liberty OTS with the Dreamworks experience, they want to try that... although I would like to try the Oasis class.

 

For 2016, we want to try NCL and see what they are like. There is such a thing as loyalty while trying something new every now and then :)

Stay off the Epic if you try NCL. My parents sailed it and said it was awful. they called it a floating casino.

The freedom just got upgraded with seuss at sea. If you have little ones, that might be fun.

But I am excited about RCL because I hear the Freedom class ships are awesome. I cant wait to try the flowrider and ice skate. It will be such a fun cruise!

I don't know why ppl get frustrated when you state your opinion. I have sailed on Royal (I'm diamond plus), Carnival (Platinum) Norwegian (3 times), Princess (twice) and Celebrity (once hated it). Those who have never sailed on Royal wouldn't begin to understand what members mean by the royal treatment. As a diamond plus crown and anchor member you are treated very well from the moment you step on the ship. You receive a booklet full of free offers including casino match play coupons, discounts on balconies, free photos, welcome back party, each night of your cruise a 3 hour cocktail party offering wine, beer, mixed drinks of your choice as well as food. There are even nice perks of Gold and Platinum members. My husband made diamond status on our last cruise which was on the Freedom of the Seas last Sept. We paid $600.00 for a 7 night cruise. I understand exactly why loyal carnival cruisers are upset and the free cruises are not random. I have family members 11 to be exact who were offered the free cabins. Some have received this offer 3 times already this year. Why should I pay a dime for to Carnival when it's the loyal cruisers who in part helped have help Carnival stay in business. . These free cabin offers includes 7 and 8 nights cruises on the Breeze and Dream. I’m speechless. To make matters worse people are receiving not 1 but 2 and 3 free cruises. That's a mess !!!! Some of us can't even score 1 cruise and oh yea I am livid !!! Consequently I cancelled by Sept cruise on the Carnival Freedom and my November cruise on the Fantasy because Carnival has proved to me that I am not a valued customer. They don’t need my money if they can afford to give away thousands of free cruises throughout the year. Also with all the cuts backs they have implemented is it logical to give away thousands of free cruises. Also don’t believe everything you hear these cruises are offered during peak season as well. My sister searched several sailings during the months of July and August and each of them had the free interior room offer which only requires her to pay govt. fees and taxes only. I will take my hard earned money) and patronize a cruise line that appreciates my business.

You said it perfectly! It is aggravating seeing people randomly get cruises! My parents have friends who are married, with different last names but live in the same house...they BOTH got free cruises. Then there are people like myself and my parents who spend thousands on their line (did three CCL cruises last year alone!) and we don't get valued as loyal members. MY parents sailed only ONE RCL cruise and when they booked their next RCL cruise they received 25% off their next one. What a great perk to want people to come back! In a way I kinda wish I can cancel CCL and go to RCL from San JUan, but I really want to sail the valor and go to those ports. But I think after the Valor, I will be sailing other lines. Celebrity is on my mind right now...

How do you sign up for casino offers?

 

 

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I think you have to play a lot to win stuff! but on the last couple ships I was on, there are those game machines where you stick a key into a hole and it unlocks a free cruise. That was some good entertainment watching people fail on that lol